Written by IESB Staff Friday, 22 October 2010 23:30 PDF Print E-mail
Don’t start packing up your lawn chairs and igloo coolers just yet, but there will once again be “camping out” for a Star Wars movie. IESB has learned some news about the future of the Star Wars franchise.

First, let me remind our readers of IESB’s past scoops so anyone doubting the news will be aware. From Joss Whedon directing the Avengers, to the recent announcement of Disney’s planned renegotiation of the Paramount Marvel deal, to the countless casting scoops, directing scoops, to our solid sources at Lucasfilm.

Confirmed IESB scoops specific to the Star Wars universe include the first announcement of the PG-13 rating of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, the first word of a live action Star Wars TV series as well as the Clone Wars animated series. Yes, all of these Lucasfilm scoops were all first reported here on IESB.

Now on to our newest big Lucasfilm scoop, ready? George Lucas is plotting to create new Star Wars movies at the ultra top-secret Skywalker Ranch.

This is déjà vu of the mid 90’s when Uncle George starting tweaking the Holy Trilogy to gear up for the Special Editions. That was his first step in moving forward with the eventual prequel trilogy.

It’s happening all over again, Lucasfilm is already hard at work converting the entire Star Wars saga into 3D which will be released starting with Episode I: The Phantom Menace in 2012. The word from our ultra top-secret Lucasfilm insider is that Lucas has gotten the itch and is already looking ahead into launching an entirely new trilogy in that galaxy far, far away.

What do we know? First of all, these new film will have nothing to do with the live action television series currently in development. That show already has over 50 scripts ready to go and plenty of pre-production time and money has been spent on artwork and storyboards. Once that show goes into production, Lucasfilm hopes to be able to produce at least 100 episodes since that is the threshold for syndication in the United States.

IESB has been told fans can expect the new trilogy after the entire saga is released in 3D which is expected to be complete around 2015 or 2016.

Uncle George’s modus operandi has not changed, the plan is that he will self finance the new trilogy after he rakes in an expected $500 – $750 million dollars with the re-release of the entire Star Wars Saga in 3D and on Blu-Ray.

The ideal plan, according to our spy at Skywalker Ranch, is to be able to release a new Star Wars film within 24 months after the release of the last re-re-release (is that right?) of Return of the Jedi 3D.

Too early for story details but one thing that our source is certain about, they will not be prequels but instead sequels. It’s not for certain if they will be the long awaited Episodes 7, 8 and 9 but could instead be Episodes 10, 11 and 12 or possibly even further out in the Star Wars timeline. And by giving space in the timeline, possibly even as far as 100 years or 1,000 years in the Star Wars universe future, Lucas avoids having to make these stories “fit in” with what the previous stories have told.

According to our sources, the most likely scenario for the films is that they will exist in the same universe but will not have anything to do with the Skywalker Clan. That story has been told, that starship has sailed.

What has caused this sudden change of heart for Uncle George? Well, besides the obvious possible billions that a new Star Wars trilogy will take in, our source tells us that George has gotten motivated with the success the Clone Wars animated series, the video games and also with the success of Avatar.

Can we expect Lucasfilm to confirm our story? Have they ever? Nope, I am sure that they will spin this or completly deny the story, but we will stand 100% behind our source.

Both the IESB website and the official Star Wars forums were experiencing technical problems Saturday afternoon, possibly due to overwhelming interest in the rumor.

Wired.com’s original mention of IESB’s report follows:

Quoting an “ultra top-secret Lucasfilm insider,” IESB reports that George Lucas is planning to roll out a new Star Wars trilogy after the six original films have been converted into 3-D.

“George Lucas is plotting to create new Star Wars movies at the ultra top-secret Skywalker Ranch,” the entertainment news site says. “This is deja vu of the mid ’90s when Uncle George [started] tweaking the Holy Trilogy to gear up for the Special Editions.”

IESB’s anonymous source says the films probably would be set in the Star Wars universe but would not focus on the Skywalker family.

“Too early for story details but one thing that our source is certain about, they will not be prequels but instead sequels,” IESB says. “It’s not for certain if they will be the long-awaited Episodes 7, 8 and 9 but could instead be Episodes 10, 11 and 12 or possibly even further out in the Star Wars timeline. And by giving space in the timeline, possibly even as far as 100 years or 1,000 years in the Star Wars universe future, Lucas avoids having to make these stories ‘fit in’ with what the previous stories have told.”

The unconfirmed report says the new trilogy, which ideally would hit theaters within two years of the 3-D re-release of the first six Star Wars movies, would have nothing to do with the live-action Star Wars television show that’s in development.

Wired.com has contacted Lucasfilm in an attempt to confirm or deny IESB’s report, but it’s the weekend — and Lucasfilm is secretive, for obvious reasons — so don’t hold your breath. In the meantime, read IESB’s story for all the murky details: “The Line Starts Here … Again! New Star Wars Movies Planned”

Here’s the good news about the live-action Star Wars television series that has been in development for years: It’s apparently just like the movies, but on a weekly basis. Here’s the bad news: It may be too expensive to actually make.

The live action TV show is kind of on hold because we have scripts, but we don’t know how to do ’em. Because, they literally are Star Wars, only we’re going to have to try to do them [at] a tenth [of] the cost. And, it’s a huge challenge… lot bigger than what we thought it was gonna be.

It’s a shame, because what we do know about the project makes it sound like something worth seeing.

The series was originally proposed as 100 hour-long episodes filling in the space between the fall of the Republic at the end of Revenge of The Sith and the ongoing rebellion against the Empire seen at the start of A New Hope, although producer Rick McCallum later suggested an alternate plan of running multiple series simultaneously to tell a massive arc of somewhere around 400 episodes. The show would be different in tone from either the movies or The Clone Wars, moving towards a darker, more character-based storytelling instead of the operatic sweep of Star Wars as we know it, and would’ve, for the most part, focused on non-Jedi or Sith characters (Which makes sense, considering the Jedi were effectively wiped out in Revenge, and considered a myth by the start of A New Hope), with McCallum telling an interviewer to “think about bounty hunter” when it comes to lead characters. George Lucas himself was rumored to be writing the show’s first season, but other writers were being brought onboard, or at least interviewed for positions; in his book A Writer’s Tale, Doctor Who showrunner Russell T. Davies talks about meeting with Lucas to work on the show (He turned down the opportunity, sadly; I would’ve loved to have seen his take on the universe, considering how much of his Who seemed a love letter to Lucas).

I have to admit, I really hope that this show finds its way into production and onto our television screens; there’s something massively appealing to me about the idea of longform exploration of the Star Wars universe pre-Star Wars (the first movie), when everything was becoming the world so many people fell in love with the first time around, without the expectations and plot weight of having to tell Darth Vader’s origin story at the same time. Fingers crossed that the Force will ultimately be strong with this one.

source: (www.fieldmuseum.org, www.rebelscum.com)
RebelScum posted on a charity screening of Empire that Lucas attended on May 8. He was asked about the Live Action series and this is what he had to say.

Question: How are things going with the Live-Action TV Show?

Answer :: Lucas: The Live-Action TV Show is kind of on hold because we have scripts, but we don’t know how to do them. Because they literally are Star Wars – only we’re going to have to try to do them – a tenth the cost. It’s a huge challenge – lot bigger than what we thought it was gonna be.

MORE RUMORS FROM A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY

There probably will be more Star Wars films. Despite the fact that he was supposed to be done with the Star Wars universe after the Prequels, George Lucas has been unable to leave well enough alone, and there’s a live action TV series in the works to go alongside the currently airing Clone Wars cartoon. But what will this movie be?

The question is raised once again, this time by musician Thomas Dolby – yes, the guy who sang ‘She Blinded Me With Science.’ On his blog he talks about hanging out with a Lucas guy. Here’s the pertinent quote:

My host is friend and former collaborator Paul Sebastien, who over the years has worked for Xbox, Playstation, and now LucasArts. Last night he was telling me a little about the forthcoming Star Wars-related TV show, movie and online games—very cool indeed.

There are a lot of things this could mean. It could mean, quite simply, that Sebastien spilled the beans to Dolby about a super secret return to the cinema for Star Wars. Possible, but highly unlikely. The folks who work at Lucasfilm and LucasArts don’t spill beans. Maybe Dolby is breaking a major confidence here, but that sentence doesn’t read like he’s telling tales out of school.

So Dolby could just be plain old wrong – there are no Star Wars movies in the pipeline. Or he could be confused: maybe Lucas is planning to kick start his live action show with a movie. Lucas took the first few episodes of Clone Wars and jammed them together into a film; it would be easy to do the same with the first two or three episodes of a live action show. But then again, maybe there’s no theatrical component at all and Lucas just wants to start his new show with a two hour TV movie – basically a double sized episode.

This raises an interesting semantic question, though: do you count the Clone Wars movie as a Star Wars movie? Are there seven Star Wars films in your personal canon, or just the six? I bet more people would count a big screen version of the live action show as a real movie than the CG Clone Wars.

At any rate, it’s going to happen. There will be a new Star Wars movie, a real one. Maybe even one that grows out of the end of the TV series. But I think we’re some time from that happening.

In the meanwhile, check out this video of David Lynch recently discussing meeting with George Lucas about directing Return of the Jedi. It’s pretty funny.

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